Sluice or runway.



'M 7|7,3o|. Patented nec. 3u,- |902. G. TELFonD.

SLU|CE UR RUNWAY.

(No Model.)

E fi X o Tn: MORRIS Pirna: co.. wMoTo-L|vmz--4 wAsHmaToN, D. c4

Ilnrrnn @trarne Artnr trice.

AND LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, RATION CALIFORNIA.

OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPO- SLUICE OR RUNWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,301, dated December 30, 1902. Application led December 2, 1901. Serial No. 84,336. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, GEORGE TELFORD, a citizen of England,residing at Oroville, county of Butte, State of California, have invented certain newv and useful Improvements in Sluices or Runways; and I dohereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact descrip-l tion of the same.

The present invention relates to certain 1o new and useful improvements in sluices or runways for the collecting of gold or precious metal carried by the water traveling therein. These sluices or runways are usually provided with bottom riffles or fibrous blankets secured to the bottom for the collecting of the precious metal. However, a certain per cent. of the iioat or light gold is carried off by the water, the lforce of which prevents the same from settling to the bottom of the sluice or zo runway and being caught. This is mainly due to the fact that the upper surface or strata of the water travels at a greater velocity than the bottom surface or strata, which is somewhat retarded by friction with the bottom of the sluice or runway. By practical operation I have discovered that by retarding and interrupting the iiow of the water at its upper surface lor strata, so as to cause the same to travel at approximately the same vego locity as its lower strata, a quantity of thev precious metal heretofore carried off by the ow of water is recovered.

Hence the object of the present invention is to interrupt or retard the ow of water at its upper surface as it passes through the sluice or runway, thereby breaking up, so to speak, the body of water and causing the precious metal carried thereby to be deflected toward and onto the bottom collecting-sur-- 4o face of the runway or sluice.

To comprehend the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, wherein- Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view of a sluice or runway. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the sluice or runway, and Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view of the sluice or runway.

In the drawings the numeral l is used to indicate any suitable form of sluice or run- 5o way for the water, to the bottom of which the usual fibrous collecting-matting 2 is attached. Above the collecting-matting is secured the rife 3, usually composed of eX- panded metal.

To cross-rods 4E, secured within the sides of 55 the sluice or runway, are hinged the deiecting-plates 5. These plates fit Within the runway or sluice and rest upon the surface of the water flowing therethrough. Said plates are free at their outer end, so as to permit of 6o their swinging up and down. These plates serve to'retard or check the flow of the water at its outer surface and to retard the same to such an extent as to cause the upper and lower surface or strata to travel at approXimately the same velocity through the sluice or runway. This retardation of the flowing water at its upper surface gives an opportunity for the heavier particles carried thereby to settle upon the collecting-surface arranged 7o at the bottom of the sluice or runway. However, I have ascertained that it is desirable to break up the upper surface of the stream, thereby creating a series of eddies and throwing the precious metal against the collectingsurface. For this purpose there is attached to each swinging defiectingplate, near its outer end, one or more strips 6. Thesestrips are preferably inclined or beveled outwardly, so as to give gradual check. These strips in- 8o terrupt the ilow of water and break up the same in the saine manner as the under riffles, thereby creating a series of eddies and causing the water to turn over, thereby liberating the metal carried by the body of water.

' The body of water is thus broken and thrown downward, which, besides answering to direct the precious metal against the collecting-surface, serves to wash from the iibrous matting or the collecting-surface sand which 9o may have settled thereon and give a clear surface for the mineral to adhere to.

By the described means there is provided for the runway or sluice what may be termed a riffle for the upper surface or strata of the stream, which acts to break the stream and retard its iiow in substantially the same manner as the under riffle.

The` deflecting or riftle plates are made of stiff material, by preference thin metal. 10o

Having thus described the invention, what said strips being inclined or beveled in the is claimed as new, and desired to be protected direction of flow through the sluioe or runby Letters Patent, is- Way, substantially as described.

A siuice or runway provided with defieot- In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my 5 ing-plates 5 pivotally secured at their upper hand.

ends to the sides of the sluioe or runway and being suspended longitudinally thereof, the GEORGE TELFORD' free end of each defiecting-plate being pro- Vitnesses: vided on its under surface with a series of COLIN R. MCKENZIE, Io transverse strips 6 rigidly secured thereto, N. L. MOKENZIE. 

